Hood Canal Waterfront Homes Sold and Active~The 2010 Year in Review~
Well, I think we can all agree that 2010 was definitely a tough year all around and we are all glad to move forward into 2011!
So how did the Hood Canal, North Shore and South Shore and Puget Sound (Allyn, Grapeview & Victor) waterfront homes for sale fair throughout the year of 2010? Let's take a look.
There were a total of 13 sold waterfront homes in those areas specific.
It was a fairly slow market throughout the year for waterfront homes for sale along the Hood Canal & Puget Sound waterfront, but interest seemed to increase the last quarter of 2010. There are some awesome prices on the waterfront homes activey for sale out there!
Currently there are 37 active listings for Hood Canal & Puget Sound Waterfront Homes for sale. The inventory is a lot lower than what we have seen throughout the summer. The breakdown of the areas for the waterfront homes currently for sale is as follows:
Many waterfront choices out there! Lots of opportunity, lots of choices, lots of great values! Is it time for YOU to start thinking about your Hood Canal waterfront home for summertime fun??
South Shore and North Shore Hood Canal Waterfront Home and Vacant land Values~How much is your waterfront property worth?
The past few weeks has seen a substantial increase in Hood Canal Waterfront property owners asking for an evaluation of their property in today's current real estate market. I think that part of this was brought on because most of these were just recently re-assessed for their taxable value for next years taxes and there was a substantial INCREASE in their new tax assessed value.
So what are some of the factors that contribute to establishing a current Fair Market Value for your home in todays real estate market?
There are many, but let's talk about a few... And this by no means is all of the process but it will give you an idea of some of the many variables involved. That's also why it is so important to not gauge your value on the "neighbors" down the street or next door.
Every property is unique in it's own way. We are a fairly rural county, therefore we do not have "tract housing" where all of the homes are very much the same with the same amenities etc. So adjustments need to be made.
But let's talk about the waterfront market here locally. This would be the Hood Canal which includes South Shore and North Shore. This is a totally different market than the normal "non-waterfront" home. One of my recent blogs also talked about a "market within a market." This fits that picture perfectly. A market within a market.
There are many homes for sale along South Shores and North Shores of the Hood Canal. One of the COMMON factors all of these homes have is that they all have saltwater frontage. That's where the likeness ends... Even within that water frontage there are many differences such as do they have deep water available for moorage of a boat at all times? Is there a dock? Is it lo-bank or a high bank? is it pebbled or rocky? Can you access the beach easily? Is there shellfish on the beach? Do you own your own tidelands?
When preparing a market analysis for Hood Canal waterfront homes, it is important to know the value of waterfront linear footage for the Hood Canal waterfront as well. What does this mean? It means what is the shoreline frontage worth on a piece of property? Hood Canal waterfrontage typically runs linear water frontage numbers from $2800 per liinear foot for poor location, muddy, shallow shoreline and continues on up $5000 per linear with the ever pristine no bank, great beach, the most desired directional exposure, and more than likely a dock as well. This value is a starting point to work with and from there add and/or subtract based on other amenities from there.
The interesting thing is that over the years - this value has not changed dramatically. A superb, pristine, pebble and sand beach, lo bank, western exposure, deep water water frontage along the South Shores (and parts of the North Shores) of Hood Canal can value out at $5000 per linear foot. But ALL the factors and amenities have to be in order to achieve that value.
So if you have 100 feet of awesome beach, the lots deep and level, western exposure or desireable exposure, no standing water issues and it has utilities on it, your numbers are reaching into the $500,000 mark but you have to adjust from there- (plus or minus other factors that come into play from here). The research goes way beyond just linear foot frontage. You cannot just take a straight linear footage number and apply to all properties along the South Shores or North Shores of Hood Canal. All of the other variables and factors have to be taken into consideration as well.
Some of these factors are: Are their utilities? Is there a home? Is it an adorable cabin? Is it a shack? Is it the Taj Mahal? Is there a dock? Where is it located? Is it a one story? Is there offstreet parking? Is it remodeled and the list goes on and on.....
We also will look at dollars per square foot of the home. Square footage is going to include the heated living spaces of the home and are based on that size, the homes amenities and the condition. Hood Canal Waterfront Home Sales along the North Shore and South Shore of Hood Canal have been around $325.00 per square foot for a good condition home with an an average of up to 1700 square feet. As weird as it sounds, the more square footage above that - you actually loose $$'s per square foot. The same with the water frontage.... if you have 200 feet of pristine waterfront you cannot just figure a straight value of a million dollars - it just doesn't work like that. I know it sounds confusing! That's why it is important to work with a real estate broker who has the experience, knowledge and skill to successfully achieve your real estate purchase or sale goals.
So in gathering the information of the sold properties and homes similar to what we are evaluating, it is adjusted up and down depending on the varying factors to establish a value from there.
This is just the beginning of how to determine a current fair market value. From this number, we can make a decision of where the home should be priced. Is it a sellers market? Is it a buyers market? Where are the buyers spending their money (pending sales) and what is your competition (active for sale listings and you have to be the better priced home out there to sell in today's market). We'll save "How to be positioned correctly in the market with your price" for a later discussion....
As you can see, there are many many factors looked at when preparing a market analysis report specifically for your home. Just as all real estate is LOCAL - every home is" LOCAL" and individual to itself as well because of the different amenities. By using all of the stats available and knowing the market area of Hood Canal Waterfront Homes, a value can be established and a price can be determined to be positioned correctly for the current real estate market. My goal is to sell your home in the shortest amount of time at the highest rate of return as possible.
Price your home correctly for your local real estate market and you will be a winner!
The Double Edge Sword .......
The Tax Assessor and your "Fair Market Value"......
Now don't get me wrong when you read this because it almost sounds as though I am for higher property taxes, and I am not; I am just trying to share with you a different perspective that seemed kind of ironic of how to look at this as well as make sure that your "assessment" is correct . Maybe it is too high, maybe it isn't.... Maybe it's just a double edge sword....
The past two weeks have been relatively crazy with phone calls with customers looking for comparable sales for their properties because the TAX MAN has been out and about physically re-assessing properties in parts of our area. Mason County is broken down into differents areas for tax re-evaluation and every four years on a rotating basis, one area or another in the county is being physically re-evaluated. If memory serves me correctly it is Area "2" that is being re-assessed this year for next years taxes; Parts of the Hood Canal Belfair area to include North Shore, South Shore, Allyn - LakeLand Village etc. Most of us in this area are just now getting our new tax assessed values and our jaws are dropping!
Most property owners saw a susbstantial INCREASE in their land values and a decrease in the building and improvement values with their new tax property tax assessment. Overall many of the new tax assessments are significantly HIGHER for the upcoming year.
"How can this be with the real estate market so depressed and sales/values so ridiculously low?"
That has been the question posed to me for the past two weeks in emails, phone calls and face to face visits. I have been working 12-14 hours a day to try and help the many that have asked me to do a market analysis for their home/property so they can provide and see recent comparables of sold properties in todays market to compare with their new tax assessed value.
There is actually quite a bit involved on how our properties are assessed for tax purposes. And there is a lot involved as well establishing a fair market value in the current market for sale purposes as well. And I am by know means an expert on the process the Assessors use to evaluate properties. It can actually be quite confusing. The information on how they assess our property in Mason County and other assessor information can be found on the county website under the assessor link. You should take a look at it and visit how they establish this value. It may even be worth a phone call to the Assessor's office to speak with an appraiser to understand it even further. But most of all, remember too this value is for a tax assessment value and may be based on a "fair market value" for tax purposes; they are not trying to put a price tag on selling your home in today's market.
The comparables that the Tax assessor uses for Mason County assessments are not current year sales. When homes and properties are re-assessed in Mason County, the assessor uses sold comparables from before January 1st of the year being physically re-assesed; That's what it states on their website. In other words, if your property was re-assessed this year, the sold comparables were from 2009 or maybe even earlier....They can go back even further if they are unable to find good comparables.
Hmm... could that be part of the problem? Well then how can that be a "fair market value?" Well it very well may have been for the year they were using the comparables from...??? They are establishing a taxable value which may not necessarily be the value of what your home would necessarily sell for in todays market.
Some of the assessments do seem to be to high in my opinion, BUT I have to be honest and tell you that SOME did not. The more I researched specific properties, which were mostly Hood Canal waterfront properties, the more I found the assessor was closer in their new-reevaluation than what the OLD evaluation was. They still seemed non-conservative leaning towards the high end.
So we are working with a double edge sword... In one hand you are asking for your assessment to be lower because you have heard the property values are way way down and of course it would lower your property taxes (thank Heavens!) On the other hand you would not want to sell your home for that value!
You need to do your homework if you disagree with the tax assessed value... Find out what sold comparables were used in your property re-assessment and from what year were they from? Call the Assessors office and talk to them about HOW they establish your taxable value and get specific to your house; Who know's you may not even have to file an appeal...
And there's the double edge of the sword, we all want lower values so our taxes will be lower... but is it a true current day fair market value that the property would sell for in today's market?
What does a buyer think when they see a low tax assessment and a high for sale price?
I will be more than happy to provide you with a market analysis of your property for today's CURRENT real estate market, but I can't say that it will change your tax assessed value.
Which brings me to my next topic of discussion : What ARE some of the factors, that are used to establish YOUR FAIR MARKET VALUE of your property or home in today's real estate market? Stay tuned.....
Belfair WA Real Estate~Real Estate Homes for Sale and Sold Market Report~August 2010~
Summers end has come and it's time to move forward into spring. Looking back on the month of August, I thought it was time to post the statistics for the Belfair WA area of what has been happening in the real estate market.
This is specific to Belfair, Dewatto and Tahuya (98588), North Shore Hood Canal, as well as parts of South Shore with a zipcode of 98528.
90 Active homes for sale : These are homes that are for sale that are represented by Brokers through the Multiple Listing Service. Actives are a sellers competition especially with the wide array of choices available. With that said remember that it COULD be a "sellers" market within the overall market depending on your price range. Check out my earlier blog : Buyers Market or Sellers Market, The Market within the Market.
The price range for these homes range from $52,500 on up to 1.3 million. Quite a variety of prices, styles, and amenities!
5 Sold properties. Homes that actually closed and changed ownership or the month.
The average price range was $148,360
The average market time was 368 days; the homes that were on the market the longest had significant price changes from their original listing date and these stats also show the truth in the statement "THE LONGER THE HOME IS ON THE MARKET TYPICALLY THE LESS RATE OF RETURN A SELLER WILL RECEIVE." Homes definitely need to be priced right for the market!
The most expensive home sold for this area was at $285,000. The others were under $200,000 which tells you where the buyers are spending their money.
There are many, many choices out there for buyers right now. Whether you are looking for that first time home, a "move up" home or a vacation home - there really is no better time to buy with interest rates at a smoking low rate!
Is is a new short sale dilemma? It sure could be and has happened, making it twice as difficult in getting that short sale approval.
I have started seeing an even more frustrating trend happening with my short sale homes that I currently have listed. Is this going to be the norm?
A seller has his home on the market and it is a short sale. (A short sale is when a seller is trying to sell a home he owns for less than what he owes on it. A seller's lender is going to be "shorted" a certain dollar amount in a payoff of the loan). The name by no means, indicates that it is a "SHORT" process because in general it can be and has been quite lengthy.
Now I am finding another step in the process is bogging it down even more....
The short sale lender sells the loan off to another lender/servicer/investor while the home is actively listed for sale.
You say so what? Well here's what happens. You have contact with your original lender (can be a fairly slow process but you have things in the works). You finally acquire a very patient buyer willing to sit and wait for lender approval. You work hours and hours on acquiring an approval and you hear you should have an answer very soon, only to find out at the last minute that the loan was sold to another servicer/investor/lender. Guess what?
You get to start the process ALL OVER.
Okay so we start the process over in the hopes the buyer will understand and that we are doing everything possible to get an approval. Please hang in there Mr. Buyer!
But the DOWNTIME from when the original lender sells the note to the time the NEW lender gets the file and information, assigns and gets a contact name...... WELLL......
Let me just say that I have been waiting and will be waiting more than a frustrating time for the original lender to SHIP the package (even though it was sold weeks ago) to the new lender; at which time I will then have to wait for the new servicer/lender to place the file in the right hands of an asset manager who will be handling it.
I currently have TWO short sale transactions literally HANGING in LIMBO with the files sitting in a box WAITING to be shipped and assigned. No one will take responsibility and/or help. "I am sorry, you will have to wait for the new asset manager to be assigned." Same response each time.
A new fad and dilemma with short sales? I sure hope not. Anyone else experiencing this?
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